I, for one, understand your point of view even though I don't have that same kind of investment in the original characters and story. If I have any emotional attachment to the original it is to the people I've met at festivals/conventions over the years and became friends with. Nothing will detract from my enjoyment of the original. But I don't have the kind of attachment or emotional investment in any of the characters that prevents me from watching a reworking of the original no matter how out there it may be. Obviously, not everyone feels the same way.
I understand Gothick's point, too, and I can really empathize with it. And if I was being truthful I would have to admit that I really do have an emotional connection to the original DS and (most of) its characters (I'm not talking about you, Jeff Clark, or you, Jeb Hawkes.
) Though at the same time I don't believe that any of the original actors are the only ones who can embody any of the characters or that any of the characters and storylines can't be reinterpreted with new and even major twists and turns (I came to truly love Jim Fyfe's Willie in the '91 DS - and he's about as different from the original take on Willie as it can possibly get). I suppose that's why, even though this new film will not be what I might have originally hoped it might have been, I'm still open to what it will turn out to be - and yes, even though in many ways it appears to go quite far afield from what we've come to expect DS to be. And again if I'm being truthful, I would have to admit that I really do love much of what I'm seeing in the trailers and TV spots. And the more I see, the more I'm coming to be won over, and the more I'm coming to love and to be intrigued by. Was I initially disappointed that the new film won't be what I might have originally hoped it might have been? Yes. But I've also come to be excited for the film it might turn out to be - and that despite having few illusions that except for maybe a few sequences here and there it will be the serious take on DS that we're most familiar with. And I'm also not blind to the fact that most often studios put all the best stuff in the trailers or the fact that trailers showcase mere minutes from any film, so I'm also well aware that when I see the final film, it could easily turn out to be quite a disappointment. But I won't be making any decision about what I ultimately feel about the film until after I've actually seen it all for myself.
45 days 12 hours 30 minutes 15 seconds until the day the Depp/Burton Dark Shadows is released(ET)!!